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Bar Tuesdays: Season Four - Week Four

Week Four: Mug Shots



We headed back into Providence this week to one of Paul's college bars. We wanted to go off-season to try to capture the Lovable Locals instead of dealing with the youngsters and it turned out that the Lovable Locals were...us. Yes, we arrived at the bar at 8PM and were the only people there aside from the people working there until 3 guys came in around 10:30. What made it fun was that it was the first night that they were doing karaoke at the place so we ended up with a surprise karaoke bonus. This also meant that aside from the karaoke hosts, we were the only ones singing. Over and over and over again. It was like our own private show and it was awesome. We pulled out all kinds of random songs as well as songs we would never normally do and some we will never do again (I'm looking at you, Vibeology. Paul and I tackled that one and found out that it's not really a song and it is also quite ENDLESS.) Anyhoo, back to the bar - this was our first Bar Tuesday bar with a cover. $5?! Eh, it probably paid for the karaoke so I didn't mind. The bar itself was pretty fun inside. It was really small and it had a jail theme, complete with chain-link fences around all of the booths. We rolled VIP in the booths as usual and found them to have the smallest tables in the world:





We knocked that table all over the place. Each booth was named after a different criminal and had his newspaper articles on the wall. We sat in the Al Capone booth. We also had a special appearance by Brent's fiancee Nicole, who brought a friend along to experience his first Bar Tuesday:



Our pal Lindsey also made her return appearance to Bar Tuesdays:





It's good to have you back, girl!

Of course, you know we couldn't let those fences go to waste while there was a camera around:







When Paul looked at his picture in my camera window, he FLIPPED out over his supposed double chins. I told him that it was just the way he was posing, but he was still saddened immensely by the whole thing:



The other thing we clearly were not letting go to waste in that bar was the Mug Shot wall. We decided to pose how we would like our mug shots to look like should we ever be arrested:







As opposed to what they would probably look like:









I love how Lindsey is all glamorous in both of hers while I'm a little too happy to be picked up for hitting on a 17 year-old boy. Not that I would ever do that. (As long as they have a license it's okay, right? No? Okay, I'll shut up now...hey, is that a unicorn over there?)

In terms of the karaoke, Paul, Lindsey, Brent and I kept it going along with the hosts until those guys came in later and joined in the fun. Here's Lindsey belting out some Alicia Keys:



But once again, what good are pictures when I have short video clips? Sadly, the other patrons missed these performances. Well, sadly for Paul's Survivor and Lindsey and Paul's take on Promiscuous, but not so much on my pulling out some Little Mermaid shit. But really, how can you NOT sing a Little Mermaid song when it's in the karaoke book? It's so random that you have to do it. It may very well be required. I was just doing my civic duty, people. In any event, here are the clips:



Oh, Mug Shots - you allowed us to sing all kinds of things with no one there to listen. Thank you, and we'll be back.

And let's just all hope that none of those fake mug shots come true....

Next week: More Bar Tuesday karaoke at a bar with a name that was MADE for us. See you then!

Bar Tuesdays: Season Four - Week Three

Week Three: House of Wu & Captain's Quarters

For week three of this summer's tour we decided to honor season three's Chinese Restaurant mini-tour by doing a one night Chinese Restaurant & After Bar. Also, we heard there was a Chinese restaurant that served different flavors of scorpion bowls, so obviously we were there. Behold, the House of Wu:



There were 5 different flavors of scorpion bowls and in the end I believe the group went with the Mango, Strawberry and Blue Bay flavored bowls. The mango one had a fun name that I wish I could remember - it was something like Wu Tang Mango, but not. In any case, here they are with their giant straws:







After sampling the bowls, Bryan discovered that the mixture of the Blue Bay and Mango bowls combined to make an ultra delicious treat, which led to him drinking from both at the same time for the rest of the night, which Paul joined in shortly thereafter.



Michael and I opted for water and tea:



Or, as the menu liked the call them, the "none alcoholic drinks":



We also could have ordered "chocolates milk." Speaking of the menu, I ordered the extra person for $8.45:



I asked for a cute boy and the waitress denied my request, pointing out that I was with 5 of them myself. BOO!!!! My type of guys are the ones who are probably worth $8.45. I'm just saying, I like them poor. Anyway, the only adventures that happened at the House of Wu all took place in the bathrooms. First, I went into the ladies room which was so tiny that you had to close the door in order to open the stall door. The stall then happened to be as big as my thumb. After some acrobatic moves trying to pee in that small space, I came out to wash my hands and found this sign next to the sink:



I highlighted the part that immediately jumped out at me. ...Really? I...what...this is a mass-produced sign - are there THAT many food service workers that spend that much time with live animals that it needs to be listed on a bathroom sign? I think I'll be eating in for a little while. That sign was my excitement in the bathroom, but that's nothing compared to Paul's experience.

Sorry, Paul - I have to tell it.

Towards the end of our meal, Paul announced that he couldn't wait any longer and had to "take a House of Wu Poo." He re-emerged from the bathroom a little too soon and sat down at the table all red-faced and announced, "The cook just walked in on me taking a shit." He was MORTIFIED. Apparently, he locked the door but it still turned when the cook walked in. He said there was no stall, just a little half-wall separating the urinal from the toilet and the cook kept walking when he came in as if he was still going to pee. Then he must have noticed Paul's shocked face and just said, "Oh, so sorry," and slinked out. Paul was SO embarrassed, and we are kind people after all, so we offered our support: "Did he ask if you were almost done with the pu pu platter?" "Did he think you were the extra person I ordered?" "Did he scare the shit out of you?"

After the bathroom debacle, we decided it best to make our exit, but not before pausing outside to pose on the random God Bless America-engraved bench:



And then sweetly and inappropriately on the filthy bench in the side parking lot:





Wow, I wish I could blame some of the things that I do on alcohol. CLASSY.

After we left the House of Wu, we went down the street to a neighborhood that we thought would have some good bars. We wandered up and down the main street to where we thought some bars had been, but all we found were empty storefronts. Then, around the corner we spotted a telltale neon glow in a tiny window. It wasn't the bar we were looking for, but when we walked in, we realized it was the only one we needed. Hello, Captain's Quarters:



The bar was located below and old hotel that used to rent rooms by the hour, so you know it was our kind of place. Also, we walked in and saw these shelves on the wall:



That was all I needed to see to put my purse down and settle in. And people, Captain's Quarters was awesome. The bartender was super nice and came and sat right down with us. There were only about 3 people in the bar section and the whole game room was empty, so we went in there to take advantage of the free pool. That, and the boxing video game:



Who needs a Golden Tee when you can punch things really hard? NO ONE. Also, about four minutes after we sat down the bartender came in and said she would turn on the jukebox for us if we wanted. Lady, have you met us? Turn that shit ON. We had some interesting choices that night, ending with a rousing rendition of Private Dancer at the end of the night that had Paul, Bryan and I singing really loudly in our best Tina Turner voices and driving David and Michael outside in a "We don't know them!" frenzy. Come on guys, it's effing Private Dancer. You HAVE to. "All the men come in these places," indeed.

Before we drove them out of the bar, we spent the night playing pool, dancing our asses off, punching that video game bag, and in some cases, gambling:





I also made sure to stay far away from the men's room as it made matters QUITE clear:



I'm sorry, but do a lot of women want to use the men's room with the urinal cakes and all? Gross.
We started taking some sweet and fun pictures:





And then David grabbed the camera and the fun began. It had been a while, so it was time for a proper Bar Tuesdays photo shoot. We normally do the "What's Fun Outside The Bar?" shoots, but in this case the only thing fun outside of the bar is probably murder, so we did most of the pictures inside. So without further ado, I present to you the Captain's Quarters Photo Shoot. David got all fancy with some, like the one of my soda, but I think this is my favorite shot of the bunch:



Oh photo shoots, how I have missed you.

In the end, we had a really fun night, even if the cook did walk in on Paul taking a dump. By the time he was singing, "American Express will do nicely, thank you," he had forgotten all about it. That's the magic of Bar Tuesdays. And vodka.

See you next week!

Public Access TV Jackass: That's Me!

I have other entries to write, but no time right now so instead I thought I would share with you some clips from the public access karaoke show that Paul and I guest host. This is the one where we go shopping at thrift stores and dress like morons just to make it more fun. The first clip is from our most recent hosting gig - check out my GORGEOUS necklace - and the second is from our All-Stars show. You'll see why we called it that when you watch the clips. Let me know what you think in the comments because I've got plenty more where these came from if you want to see them. Enjoy!

Pam Goes To Minnesota (And FINALLY MEETS SHELLY!)

#41: Meet Shelly.

So my list of 101 Things to do in 1001 Days may have expired 9/28/07, but I am gleefully crossing this one off of the list, even if it is quite belatedly. Good things do come to those who wait, because after being friends since March of 2003 or something crazy like that, I FINALLY got to meet my friend Shelly in person last weekend and I had the BEST time. I had tried to get out her way for her wedding in December of 2007, but plane fare was quite high at that time, so I had to sit it out. But thankfully, I decided to check plane fares on a whim a few months ago and found a great rate to Minnesota so I just decided, "I'm going to go visit Shelly!"

And that I did.

It's so funny to meet someone that you've been friends with online because in some special cases, that person knows a LOT about you. Sometimes it's easier to tell Internet pals things that you may not share all of with your home friends just because they're outside of the situation and can give you good advice or just listen and share their stories with you. And although it seems like it should be a little awkward or weird if you finally meet in person, I have found that it never is. Shelly was no exception - we fell right into our groove as if we've been hanging out for years. I mean, we virtually "hang out" through regular e-mails and sometimes on the phone, so I suppose it should come easy. Still, nothing beats kicking it in a hotel hot tub together while engaging in some good ol' fashioned girl talk. It was little moments like these that made my fun trip even better. And Shelly's husband, Todd? Totally awesome. We all just had an easy-going kickass weekend, and I thank them for taking me on a tour of the town and showing me an amazing time. And kudos to finding a FANTASTIC dive bar to hit for karaoke - it was a perfect Bar Tuesday establishment and may need to move its location up here immediately. The clientele, too. Plus, I'm forgetting to mention one of the most important things: MALL OF AMERICA. That's right, I conquered that bitch.

But what good are words when I have pictures of our adventures? There are many, so I'm going to put them all on the next page so as not to take up my whole page with pictures of me on the flume ride at the mall. Oh, yes.

Click below for the picture diary!

Bar Tuesdays: Season Four - Week Two

Week Two: Billy's Frosted Mug



This was kind of a slow week at Bar Tuesdays. We didn't realize that Billy's was a sporty type of bar and there was a Red Sox/Yankees game on that night so the TVs were all blaring the game quite loudly and there were a bunch of guys all sitting there transfixed by the game. I told Paul that we would probably get beaten if we dared play the jukebox. I also didn't want to take pictures while we were sitting at the bar itself because I didn't want to distract everyone with the flash. Wah waah. The only weird things behind the bar that I wanted to take pictures of were a random giant fax machine and this hanging oval glass case that had some sort of winter scene in it with a little horse and carriage. It was right up close to the ceiling so I couldn't see all of what was going on, but I turned to Paul and asked, "What is up in that, St. Elsewhere?" Crickets. Ah, youth. For those of you that are Paul's age and weren't even alive then, St. Elsewhere was a TV show that took place at a hospital and it starred William Daniels, or as I like to call him, "The Voice of KITT." If you don't get that one, I want to cry. It also featured Howie Mandel in a dramatic role which I still don't really get. ANYWAY - the whole weird thing about the TV show was the last episode which revealed that the entire series took place inside of a snowglobe owned by an autistic boy. Right? And you thought you were disappointed by the Seinfeld finale. A SNOWGLOBE.

Anyway, back to the bar. I did ask the bartender if they got a lot of faxes, and he just looked over at the fax machine and answered, "Not too many anymore." Okay, then. Sadly, since I didn't take too many pictures I missed out on capturing David's mom, who was visiting from South Carolina and decided to make a Bar Tuesday stop during her trip. She came along with David and Michael, who went straight for the Keno slips in true Bar Tuesday fashion. At that time, I was locked in a tight Buzztime trivia battle with Paul, Brent and Bar Tuesday newcomer Rob.



It was all looking good going into the final showdown round, which is like final jeopardy, and then we got the category "Inventive People." Fantastic. I got the question right, but someone wagered more than me, leading to this:



Well played, Paulielicious. Here's how it all shook out at the end:



In addition to the trivia, the bar also had the ubiquitous playmaker at the end of the bar as well as an old favorite that we haven't seen in a while:



That picture is for our old pal Randy. We miss you, buddy.

(Speaking of Randy, he was up from Louisiana for a visit Memorial Day weekend and Paul and I were out with him one late afternoon and we decided to stop by one of our Season One bars for a quick drink. Sadly, the bar was closed when we got there so we just went down the street to...Hooters. I still have no idea why. Me, a gay and an everyone think is gay but isn't but feels bad for the girls. It made PERFECT sense. People, it was disgusting, and not for the Hooters factor. The place itself was just dirty - it was filthier than many of the dive bars we've gone to. Also, it REEKED of dirty ocean air. It was so nasty. And I'm only telling you all of this because Paul will love that I told the story about one of the waitresses walking by and saying, "Wow, it really smells like seafood," and one of us replying under our breath, "Then close your legs." I won't say which one said it, but we really are a classy bunch.)

Where were we? Wow, this recap is all over the place, isn't it? Tangent City up in here. The dirty Hooters story is actually a perfect segueway into the bathroom report for Billy's. When I arrived at the Frosted Mug, I was a resident of Have-To-Peetown, USA so I made my way to the ladies room after I ordered my drink and put my stuff down. When I walked into the bathroom, I was startled and let out an, "oh!" You'd think it would be the dirty sick or lack of paper towels that stopped me:



But no, it was the step-up to the toilet stalls:



WITH NO DOORS. Curtains? Really? Am I in a dressing room? People can't knock on those to see if someone's in there. What if someone doesn't see my feet due to the platform and the long curtains and just decides to whip the curtain open? I would be defenseless! (I have a long history of people walking in on me in the bathroom and am appropriately scarred from it.) The main door to the bathroom seemed to have a lock on it, but it didn't look trustworthy at all so I just ran in and held the curtain with one hand while I tried to pee as fast as I could. Of course, this was after I had to take paper out of the stall with the clogged toilet to pee in the one with no toilet paper. Ah, dive bar bathrooms - gotta love it. Paul ventured into the mens room later and reported that it was the same setup with the stalls except that there were no curtains. Good lord.

On the plus side, the bar did have computer chairs instead of stools:



That was fun to swivel and roll around in those at the bar. And they certainly beat the stools that were at the high top tables in the pool/dart room:



Now there are some Bar Tuesday seats. Even so, the bar fell kind of flat for us - it had a few interesting aspects, but nothing spectacular. Paul had been there one time before and there was a dog behind the bar, so we were hoping for something fun like that, but all we got was a Red Sox game and some die-hard fans. Cue the Price is Right horns of defeat.

Next week: we have a week off, but then we'll be back with all new bars, including one that is a barn. Oh, yes. See you then!

Bar Tuesdays: Season Four - Week One

"This drink tastes like my asshole with caffeine."

And with that statement made by Paul last night, Bar Tuesdays was back.

Since we only went to 3 bars during the winter break, we're going to just call those 3 bars Season 3 1/2 and make this summer the official season four. This time we're going statewide, so expect some new and interesting places. Of course, the more things may change, the more they stay the same as I started off the season last night just like I did in Season 1: dancing with a man with 8 teeth in his head - but we'll get to that. First things first:

Week One: Muldowney's Pub



We started things off this season in Providence at this little hole-in-the-wall Irish bar downtown. Paul and I walked in and sat down just as an impromptu dance party erupted in the corner, with the owner lifting up his shirt and everything. Paul and I just turned to each other and were all, "Welcome back to Bar Tuesdays!"



Paul and I settled into the bar and checked out the scenery as we waited for the others to arrive. Paul: "Maximum capacity 65 people? I've been to house parties bigger than that." A few minutes after we arrived, Paul nudged me and told me to check out a David Cross look-a-like at the bar who was staring at us and looking like he was going to fall asleep. I looked over and saw this completely obliterated guy trying to focus his eyes and smiling away as they kept trying to close. Just then, he got up and stumbled over to us. He smiled and introduced himself to Paul and started saying things that mde no sense. Then he shook my hand and then turned back to Paul and blurted out, "You're cute," and then ran away, giggling. Paul: "I gotta go." It was very sweet.

I had just about finished teasing Paul about his new boyfriend when this person walked in and stood right next to me at the end of the bar and stared at the bartender until the bartender looked up and immediately said, "No! You're not allowed in here anymore. Go."

The person just sneered and shouted back, "That's because last time I was here you were too busy stuffing your face instead of serving me drinks!" Oh, and the "serving me drinks" portion was said along with a finger tapping the bar. It was awesome. The angry person finally left and I heard another patron say that she was gone, which made me turn to Paul and remark, "Wait, that was a woman?" Paul just nodded and said, "We've only been here ten minutes and all of this has already happened." Just then, a homeless person came to the door and stuck his head in and smiled and waved and then just backed out and continued off down the street. This place was amazing.

Throughout the next half hour or so there continued to be brief impromptu dance breakouts, mostly between a guy who was sitting near us who would grab a woman from the other end of the bar and just dance it out. They all seemed to be the Lovable Local regulars that we love so much. Dancer Guy spent most of the rest of the time just singing his heart out to every song that came on the jukebox. At one point, he turned to me and stated, "I love your hair. It's the same color as my daughter's." Then he held onto his heart and swayed. I asked him how old his daughter was and then he launched into Dancer Guy's Life Story, which included the part about him being a twin and being born with a hole in his face. Apparently, he was missing a nose and mouth and all of that important stuff and was in the hospital until he was two years old having all kinds of reconstructive surgery and recovering. He said there are articles about him in the New England Journal of Medicine, which I now need to check out. We heard about his kids and his childhood and his teen years and how he used to have millions but quit to do something else and now has nothing. Oh, but he loved to dance. I was all into the stories - this is what Bar Tuesday is all about! After a little while, the music kicked up loud and Dancer Guy went outside to smoke so Story Time was over. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the group arrived to kick things off all proper:



As usual, Michael went straight for the lotto machines:





I was busy showing the boys my new shoes when Brown Eyed Girl started up on the jukebox. That's when the magic happened. But first, the shoes:



What a great place to wear them for the first time. Anyway, as soon as the song started, Dancing Guy jumped up and yelled, "Yes! I love this song!" Then he came over to me and held out his hand and asked me to dance. How could I say no? Hence, this:



I love Paul's reaction to seeing all of this as he emerged from the bathroom:



Of course, I don't know how I didn't notice this, but I guess Dancing Guy was being Grab Himself guy while we danced:



Yikes. That totally proves the statement that I made to Paul earlier in the evening: "How is it that WE are the classy people in this place? How does that. happen?" So true.

Thankfully, I think the crotch grabbing was just part of the dancing since Paul was outside a few minutes after that and Dancing Guy turned to him and said, "I don't know what you're about, but I think you're a doll."

Paul, the Belle of the Bar Tuesday Ball. I asked Paul if he told him that he was about the ladies, but he said he just thanked him. Then Paul made another bathroom stop after which he came out showing me a camera phone picture of the toilet, complete with duct tape all over the lid. Welcome back to Bar Tuesdays, indeed.

Next week: a bar that reportedly has computer chairs instead of stools. Also? A crew member brings his mom. See you then!

Seriously, Topshop and NYC- Just Take My Whole Wallet

The Professor and I headed to NYC over the weekend for a little getaway to the city. I watch Chelsea Lately every night and have developed a deep affinity for some of the roundtable regulars. One of my favorites is Jo Koy, and I liked him even more after watching his Comedy Central special a couple of months ago. It's been years since I've watched a stand-up special, and that had me laughing my ass off. Anyway, last month Jo was on Chelsea and she announced that he would be playing some shows in NYC, so I immediately got on that shit. The Professor loves the city, so he wasn't hard to convince to go along with me. I believe the conversation went like this:

PAM: Do you want to go to New York with me next month to se...

THE PROFESSOR: YES.

PAM: ...a comedy show?

The Professor had never seen Jo Koy before, but thankfully he thought he was funny and had a great time. And let me just say this - Jo Koy is even funnier live. His special was funny, but his stand-up show last week was drop-dead hilarious. He was only supposed to do a 55 minute set but ended up doing an hour and forty-five minutes. Sorry, people waiting for the second show! Also? I don't think I stopped laughing for more than 30 seconds the whole time. His stand-up DVD comes out on Tuesday - you should check it out. He's also very nice and friendly. Before the show, he just walked right through the showroom to get to the backstage area. I think I was the only one who even noticed him (and was more excited about it then I should have been. I may watch a little too much Chelsea, y'all.). After the show, he waited in the lobby to say hello and take pictures and everything. Here we are:





After the show, The Professor and I headed to do a little karaoke and then we ended the night at The National Underground, as is tradition.



Most of the regulars weren't around, but the most fun one was:



Oh, Sasha.

Sunday morning we were just going to make two stops before heading home, Magnolia Bakery and Topshop. We had gone to teany and Toy Tokyo the day before, so I had my monkey-picked tea from teany and I had some new robots from Toy Tokyo. ROBOTS! Do y'all know how much I love robots? I saw this case and gasped:



Then, of course, I stared longingly at them all like the creep that I am:



Anyhoo, since Topshop finally just opened their first store here in the US, I wanted to make a stop there just to see what all of the hullabaloo was about. Turns out the hullabaloo is all correct: Topshop is AWESOME.



Four floors of magic. I didn't even get to look at half of the clothes because I was so overwhelmed by it all. I did, however, get to drool over all of the shoes. They were insane. I wanted so many! In the end, I ended up with this pair of badass mofos. I can't wait to wear them.

The other evil part about Topshop is its location: right in the heart of SoHo's shopping haven. We ended up walking up and down two blocks and going in SO many stores (and buying SO many things). My wallet behaved at the Scholastic store, but we still played around:







It was all just so insane. My credit card was on fire, and I didn't even buy a lot of the things that I wanted. I've already talked Lucy into going back with me. Maybe she can help me control my shopping. It's evil there!

Ah, screw it - it was FUN. I can't wait to go back.

All Eyes On Me In The Center Of The Ring, Just Like A Circus....

Oh, how I love the circus.

It's that time of year again when Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey come to town, so I wrangled up some folks to go along with me so I could be creepy with the clowns. The last time I went two years ago I used a friend with kids so I could tag along, but this time I found people who were more than willing to go, so The Professor, Paul, Lindsey and I headed to the Big Top. We asked several other people to go, but they all thought we were creepy or weren't into the circus. Who isn't into the circus? My brother thought we would look like pedophiles if we didn't have kids with us, but there were other non-children groups there. He's crazy. Plus, having Paul with us was like having a 5 year-old since he hadn't been to the circus since the 2nd grade and was amazed by everything. All I know is that he needs to come with me every time because it was hilarious listening to him get all worked up and scared while the performers were doing their things. Here's a sampling of what he was saying:

"Sir, that does not look safe."

"Friend, watch out...oh no! Why is he attempting that? Friend, you're going to get hurt! I can't look."

"This is quite entertaining."

(grabbing my arm during a crazy drum roll) "Something is about to happen and I'm scared."

"Oh, you just wait until that tiger bites off your arm - then who will be laughing?"

"YEAH ELEPHANTS!! Nice work by them, huh? Holla, elephants!"

"Sir, please come down from there."

Most of us also ate like 5 year-olds. The Professor bought some cotton candy that came with a fun little wizard hat:





Paul went hog wild with popcorn, peanuts, and a smores stick. Me? I am ALL about the snow cones, my friends. They didn't have a clown cup this year (sadness!) so I opted for the elephant one:



I love this picture that The Professor secretly took because I look like a giddy little kid:



That's what the circus is all about, my friends.

Well, that and THE CLOWNS. As always, I made everyone go to the pre-show so we could meet some of the clowns and get our free noses:



While Paul and Lindsey were off looking at an elephant do artwork (yawn!), I was staking out my future husband. That's him in the green on the right:



Swoon!

Sadly, he finished up his act right before showtime so I wasn't able to meet him. I did get a picture with his co-hort earlier, who was funny as hell:



He was stealing people's purses and cameras. Gotta love a ball-busting clown. Also, gotta love The Professor who proclaimed at one point during the show, "I'm in love with that girl clown." And that, my friends, is another reason why he is my boyfriend.

Anyhoo, so we all had a great time and highly recommend this new red tour, the Zing Zang Zoom show. It has people being shot out of cannons, people. What more can you ask for? If you do go, please take Paul so he can give props to the elephants and the dogs again. And every time the Ringmaster asks the crowd to yell the magic words, Paul is shouting, "Zing! Zang! Zoom!" at the top of his lungs. Oh, who am I kidding? I was doing it with him. The circus rules. It's fun to be 5 again for a couple of hours. Try it.

Gavin & Joey In Boston 4/24/09

Oh, those DeGraw boys - how I love them so. Gavin's spring tour made a stop in Boston on Friday night and we were one of the lucky select cities to also have the bonus of Joey as one of the opening acts. I always say, the only thing better than one DeGraw is two. Lucy, Paul and David joined me at the show, but seriously people - I get in THE ZONE and pay very little attention to anything/anyone else. THE ZONE!

Anyhoo, we were lucky enough to be in the 21+ group so we could wait inside the lounge part of the concert hall before the doors opened while the 18-20s waited in line outside. This meant we also got to go in to the club first, so I scored a sweet front row position. And the thing I love most about this club is that there is no security pit, so I was leaning up against the stage. I actually sat my purse on it for most of the show. I loved it so much. See? Being an old lady does pay off sometimes. Just wait until I can start getting senior discounts and shit - watch out world!

ANYway - Joey opened the show with an acoustic set. I've never seen him do an acoustic show and I loved it. It was just Joey and his pal Andy Clayburn (who you may remember from my trip to the National Underground in February) on guitars and it was really cool. Joey sounded incredible, and it was a great way to start the show. Here are some pictures I grabbed:







And my favorite, the Joey smirking at me picture:



Here's a short clip from 2 songs that I took a little bit of video of (you can totally hear Joey's A&E voice coming out when he sings all low):



I had run into Joey in the bar before the show and we talked about him coming back to Boston as a headliner in a few weeks, so I'll get more/better pics and video then.

After Joey's set, the "official" opening act came on, a band called honeyhoney. I had never heard of them before, but I fell in love immediately. It's just a girl and a guy, and she plays the banjo and fiddle and he plays guitar and bass drum. They were fantastic. Lucy and I were laughing during the set because the guy in the band was literally 2 feet in front of us. It was so awkward. We couldn't look at him! In any case, you should totally check them out. I bought their album immediately when I got home. Here's Suzanne, the lead singer:



I didn't really get video of them because I was loving it so much that I didn't even think to, but here's their video of my favorite song from them at the moment:



After honeyhoney, it was time for Gavin. This tour is a bit different to go along with the feel of his new album. It's very stripped down with a lot of acoustic stuff going on. It was a whole new feel and I loved every single minute of it. Here's a little video taste of what went down:



I love him looking at my camera at the 1:49 mark. Anyway, here are some pictures I took during the show:







This next one is my favorite from this show:



LOVE that.

Here's a few more from the encore:







Now, onto my favorite song and picture from the night. First, I have been waiting to hear Gavin perform his song Glass for years now. He finally recorded it for this album, so I figured it was finally time for me to hear it live. I hadn't even prepared properly when he just busted right into it for the second song of the night, hence me not having my camera ready and not getting part of the first verse on video. In any case, here is the rest of it:



Man, I love that song.

Now onto my favorite picture from the whole night, me and Gavin:



He teased me a little for seeing me getting down during the show, but he loved that I was having such a great time. Oh Gavin, I always do, I always do.

Now when can I do it again?

Woodward Madness!

Last Friday Lucy Woodward came up to do a show in Boston, which is always a fun treat for me since her NYC shows are usually so crazy that I don't get a chance to talk to her for very long. Boston shows give us more of a chance to hang. This time around we battled with Red Sox traffic, which is always a good time. I may have been calling many, many people jackasses. And Massholes. Anyhoo, we still made it to the show on time and Lucy was rocking as usual. Sadly, because of the traffic situation for everyone, the show started late so Lucy had to cut a couple of songs from her set. Even so, she sang one of her fun new songs that we requested, so we were thrilled. Paul and I took turns manning the merch table during the show so we could go up front for some songs. Joining Lucy on the bill that night were the lovely and talented Rachel Platten and Toby Lightman. Here's a shot of Toby from the show:



I've seen Lucy play with both ladies before and they are really good. I didn't get a picture of Rachel, but she's a cute little thing, as you can see from this picture of The Professor blatantly checking her out as she walked by mid-pose:



Hee! Love it.

Since this was a Lucy Woodward show, I donned some kicking shoes for the occasion:



Lucy rocked some black boots, but I won the battle this time. After the show, we went across the hall to a bar and grabbed a drink with La Lucy. It was so much fun - she dished about what Randy Jackson is really like and performed the Single Ladies dance after Paul told her that he hurt his back from doing it the night before at karaoke. Paul turned to me at that moment and whispered, "I'm obsessed." It was awesome. After a while, it was time to make our way home so we said our goodbyes and took some pictures before we went, which led to The Greatest Picture I Have Seen In a Long, Long Time. But first, here are the others:







And then this happened:



LOVE it. A classy singer who is also super-fun and drops f-bombs left and right and poses for silly pictures like that? That is my kind of girl. Lucy rocks, y'all.